Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usMon, 20 Aug 2012 16:49:51 +0000Indian government blocks Facebook, Twitter accounts over hate messageshttp://www.dailydot.com/news/Indian-government-twitter-facebook-block-hate/<p><img src='//cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/b5/f6/b5f66abddf6f4e168c35e54b43d18ae9.jpg'></p><p>
The Indian government has taken action to block more than 150 websites and Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts following a string of hate messages directed at those in the northeast region of the country.</p>
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The accounts and pages were said to incite violence, display inflammatory and hateful content, and spread rumors, which caused panic among people in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, according to <em><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Facebook-Twitter-accounts-blocked-over-hate-messages/articleshow/15567508.cms">The Times of India</a></em>. The government said that most of the content emanated from Pakistan.</p>
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Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde asked Rehman Malik, his Pakistani counterpart, to take action against those who were using Facebook and Twitter to spread hateful messages among Indians.</p>
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The Home Ministry issued a report claiming that a group based in Pakistan was apparently altering images and sharing them online to cause panic among people living in the north east of India. Videos depicting violence against Muslims apparently <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2012/08/20/Pakistani-bloggers-accused-of-hate-videos/UPI-15301345458600/?spt=hs&amp;or=tn">caused the panic</a>.</p>
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To clamp down on the spread of rumors, <a href="http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=772490">the government imposed</a> a 15-day ban on bulk SMS and MMS messages.</p>
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Back in December, India <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/news/india-censorship-facebook-yahoo-microsoft-google/">asked big-name companies</a> like Google and Facebook to screen user-generated content before citizens in the country can view it. Google instituted country-specific versions of Blogger in February, allowing it to remove content which violates laws in certain regions, while allowing it to <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/business/google-censor-blogger-content/">remain online</a> in the rest of the world.</p>
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<em>Photo of Shinde via <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WJgLacGPv0">YouTube</a></em></p>
kris@dailydot.com (Kris Holt)Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:49:51 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/news/Indian-government-twitter-facebook-block-hate/TwitterNewsSociety